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PLANS FOR ST. JAMES Widener Crack Will Be Pointed for the Preakness Stakes. Colts Most Formidable Rivals Not Likely to Start in 0,000 Event. NEW TOUIC. N. Y.. Feb. 13. George D. Wideners St. James, winner of the Belmont Park Futurity and greatest money-winning two-year-old of last year, is to be pointed for the Preakness, it was learned Monday. There has been a great deal of interest in the three-year-old prospects of the son of Ambassador IV. and Bobolink II. After his victory under a crushing impost of 130 pounds in the Futurity last fall the colt was retired for the winter, leaving the later rich two-year-old events to the mercy of his rivals. Trainer Andrew .T. Joyner did not care to run any risk of injuring the colts chances for three-year-old honors by keeping him in training too long "as a two-year-old. The Futurity is a three-quarters race, and that is the longest distance which St. James covered as a .uvenile. Sarazen, the unbeaten, and "Wise Counsellor, J. S. "Wards Kentucky speed marvel, both scored their most impressive victories in mile races. SAIIAZEX NOT ELIGIBLE. Sarazen is not eligible for the Preakness because he is a gelding, and it is not considered likely that "Wise Counsellor will be shipped East to race in the big Pimlico stakes for fear of injuring his chances for the Kentucky Derby. Thus St. James has a good chance of starting in the Preakness without having to face his most formidable rivals. Jockey Thomas McTaggart has already reported to trainer Joyner, and he will take an active part in the training operations from now on. St. James has already been out on the track at Belmont Park and, while he has not been asked for speed, he appears in fine fettle. lie has filled out considerably. "Whether or not St. James will start in the Kentucky Derby will probably depend to a "great extent on his showing in the Preakness. The Preakness is his first objective, in any case, and trainer Joyner will bend every effort toward preparing him for that event. All of his training will be aimed at having him at the peak of his form for the big Pimlico race. OrEX "WINTER HELPS TRAINING. The open winter has been of great help to the stables wintering at the Long Island tracks. Until Sundays storm struck this section, there had been no snow all winter and hardly more than a touch of really cold weather. Normally exercise in the open would have been out of the question up to this time of year, but this winter it has been possible to give a great many of the horses quartered at the Long Island tracks plenty of work in the open air. This has been supplemented by shed work when weather conditions were unfavorable and altogether the horses are much further advanced than usual at this season. St. James is a fine looking colt. He was all of that last fall, but he has grown considerably since he won the Futurity at Belmont Park, and his condition is excellent. Those who have watched the colt have no doubt of his staying qualities in spite of the fact that his ability to go a distance has never been tested. His breeding is that of a stayer, and his conformation indicates that he possesses the necessary bottom. ST. .TA3IES OF FOREIGN BLOOD. Unlike Sarazen and Wise Counsellor, which are generally considered his chief rivals for three-year-old honors, St. James is of purely foreign blood lines. His sire, Ambassador IV., is an imported stallion by Dark Ronald - Excellenza. by Haut Brion, and his dam, Bobolink TL, is also English-bred, a daughter of "Willonyx and Chelandry, by Goldfinch. Sarazen and "Wise Counsellor have a strong strain of old American blood in their pedigrees. English families are, of course, re-rresented in their pedigrees, but the strain In eacli is American. There will be much interest on the part of breeders in the three-year-old racing of the coming season for this reason. Whether St. James, willi his pure English ancestry, or his two chief rivals, representing as they do the American families which are ineligible to the English Stud Book, will dominate the lacing, will be a decidedly fascinating question which actual competition alcne can decide.
